Sgt. Rafael Peralta, a Mexican immigrant who enlisted in the
Marine Corps the day he received his green card.
Sgt.Peralta was proud to serve his adopted country. In his parent's home, on
his bedroom walls hung only three items - a copy of the United States Constitution,
the Bill of Rights and his boot camp graduation certificate. Before he set out
for Fallujah, he wrote to his 14-year old brother, "be proud of me, bro...and
be proud of being an American."

On the morning of November 15, 2004, the men of 1st Battalion,
3rd Marines awoke before sunrise and continued what they had been doing for
seven days previously - cleansing the city of Fallujah of terrorists house by
house.

At the fourth house they encountered that morning the Marines
kicked in the door and "cleared" the front rooms, but then noticed
a locked door off to the side that required inspection. Sgt. Rafael Peralta
threw open the closed door, but behind it were three terrorists with AK-47s.
Peralta was hit in the head and chest with multiple shots at close range.
Peralta's fellow Marines had to step over his body to continue the shootout
with the terrorists. As the firefight raged on, a "yellow, foreign-made,
oval-shaped grenade," as Lance Corporal Travis Kaemmerer described it,
rolled into the room where they were all standing and came to a stop near Peralta's
body.

But Sgt. Rafael Peralta wasn't dead - yet. This young immigrant
of 25 years, who enlisted in the Marines when he received his green card, who
volunteered for the front line duty in Fallujah, had one last act of heroism
in him.

Not only can Rafael's family be proud of him, but his fellow
Marines are alive because of him. As Sgt. Rafael Peralta lay near death on the
floor of a Fallujah terrorist hideout, he spotted the yellow grenade that had
rolled next to his near-lifeless body. Once detonated, it would take out the
rest of Peralta's squad. To save his fellow Marines, Peralta reached out, grabbed
the grenade, and tucked it under his abdomen where it exploded.

"Most of the Marines in the house were in the immediate
area of the grenade," Cpl. Kaemmerer said. "We will never forget the
second chance at life that Sgt. Peralta gave us."

Sgt. Rafael Peralta will get little media coverage. He is
unlikely to have books written about him or movies made about his extraordinarily
selfless sacrifice. But he is likely to receive the Medal of Honor. And that
Medal of Honor is likely to be displayed next to the only items that hung on
his bedroom wall - the Constitution, Bill of Rights and his Boot Camp graduation
certificate.